P180-Too complicated for a First timer?

P

Putter

Geek
Hi, I've recently been considering the Antec P180b as a possibility for a chassis for my first ever computer build. However, various places say that it's a bit complicated, even for someone who's built computers before. And they've also said that the manual isn't very in depth, so it might be very hard for me.

Can anyone confirm or deny this? Has anyone here personally used to the P180 and could comment on it's ease of use? I hear it's a legendary case, and despite it being a bit high in price, I might be able to stretch it a bit.

Also: I've heard that because the PSU is in the bottom section, some PSU's have had a hard time stretching the cables. Luckily, the PSU I've been considering (OCZ Gamexstream 700W), I've heard has extremely (often stated to be annoyingly) long cabling, which might help. Has anyone used this specific configuration?

Thanks.
 
Agreed. Cases don't have a whole lot of documentation, mostly because there's not a lot to know. If there's much more than a sheet of paper, then it's likely in multiple languages.

I'd be more concerned about a motherboard sporting lite documentation than a case.
 
While I wouldn't say it's a 'hard' case to use, it can be very fiddly to get everything in the place you want it. Screw this here and then screw that there procedure kind of thing.
 
Hmmmmm. I guess it can't be too bad, except that I don't have much experience with computers. I should be able to figure it out, but there's going to be lots of screws and grommets and all that and I don't want to forget something.

Mostly though, I'm just worried about cabling. As I've never built a computer before I obviously won't be able to do a great job, but since it's split into 2 compartments, and I'm getting a Gamexstream (which apparently have lots of 'extra' cables and isn't modular), I don't want to mess up everything that way. Is there any place when I could like go and see other peoples cable management, and how they did it??
 
[H]ard|OCP's Cases and Casemodding forum has a thread devoted to case galleries and I know of one specifically on clean cable routing.

I've got my cases posted in there somewhere (under a different guise since Big B was used there), but I've also got some shots in the HWF Gallery. My main box has a ton of stuff in it, so the pictures don't do quite as good of a job as I'd like to tell the story.

Obviously, make sure everything works first before routing cables (it's a bigger pain to remove a custom wiring job), but the idea is to tie cables you're not using out of the way...unless you're using modular PSU's.

Some rudimentary cable management can be had with zip-ties. For IDE cables, you can make your own round ones with the help of flex tubing. Both items I mentioned can be picked up at auto stores or auto sections in places like Wal-Mart for cheap.
 
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